The Most and Least Active Cities in America

Where Sit Happens

Summer is the season for kicking back and doing nothing, which means it's always summer in Lexington, Kentucky

Summer is the season for kicking back and doing nothing, which means it's always summer in Lexington, Kentucky. In fact, folks there didn't need to lift a finger to be named America's Most Sedentary City, since movement of any kind means you're not a committed couch potato.

Now, we don't doubt the Lexington work ethic—it's the workout ethic we question. We looked at where and how often people exercise (Experian Marketing Services); the percentage of households that watch more than 15 hours of cable a week and buy more than 11 video games a year (Mediamark Research); and the rate of deaths from deep-vein thrombosis, a condition linked to a lot of sitting (CDC). And since some people define "exercise" loosely, we gave credit for any physical activity in the past month (CDC).

TAKE STEPS TO FIGHT INERTIA

If you rarely take the stairs and instead opt for an elevator, it may not be just a case of laziness. "Stairwells are dark, dirty, and designed to be functional," says Daniel Banks, M.D., chairman of the department of medicine at the LSU health sciences center. "They need to be more inviting so people will take advantage of their fitness value." For instance, a CDC study found that piping in upbeat music and hanging "Take the stairs" signs nearby boosted traffic by 9 percent. Petition your city officials to revamp all public stairwells.

SIT 'N' SPIN

Often deskbound? Bring the gym to your office. In a study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, sedentary workers who were given mini exercise bikes to slide under their desks said they found it easy to pedal while they were pushing their papers. Buy a MagneTrainer ER (magnetrainer.com, $150) and start with 20 minutes a day, 3 days a week.